7 December 2006

Nimmanhemin Road Arts Fair

1st of December through to 5th, we held a stall to raise funds and awareness. We did it in 2 shifts, many kind people helped us and we were able to raise quite a bit of money through sales of small items and generous folks making donations.

Learned a big lesson. Holidaying foreigners generally do not like to donate and have an opinion 'its not my problem' This was a challenge for us but we kept smiling.

We also met many people with stories to tell about their pest or their own animal welfare activities. In particular there was a couple of Americans who were avid pidgeon rescuers. They explained to me about their activities in Thaepae Gate during their stay in Chiang Mai, with a specially created cotton bag and a small pair of scissors. They said that many pidgeons lose their feet due to a tornequet forming on their legs from rubbish they picked up when they walked, like nylon fishing line etc. They described how they would catch the birds, snip the line and relieve the bird of its shackle. They also told me about the work they do back in the states and I was very impressed. The following day, I put a small pair of scissors in my hand bag, just in case.

Spent most of the next 5 days running to & fro, collecting new stock for the sale or printing up new maps for distribution.

The next sales stand we do, will definately be better than this one. We learned a lot during those 5 days.

No comments: